A Santa Monica apartment complex owned by a religious group did not fall within a statutory exemption from local historic preservation regulations because the property has always been a commercial enterprise, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A state appellate court has blocked San Francisco from considering an historical landmark designation for a 98-year-old church building. The court ruled that, under state law, the building is exempt from local regulations to protection historic landmarks. >>read more

Wilshire Boulevard is the Main Street of Los Angeles, and the Ambassador Hotel (1921-2006) was its biggest, swankiest, classiest address. The hotel is but a memory these days. Now, after nearly two decades of false starts and lawsuits, construction has finally started on the scheme to convert the Ambassador Hotel property into an education center. >>read more

A Superior Court decision prohibiting Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs from demolishing an historic mansion in Woodside has been upheld by an appellate court. The court rejected the Town of Woodside's conclusion that repairing or adding onto the house were economically infeasible project alternatives to demolition and replacement. >>read more